A Promise Saga: The Mystery of the Scroll
by animallover2000
Summary: Sequel to A Promise to keep. "It was horribly ironic to come to this realization now. I love her. I have for a long time, but refused to see it. And now it's too late." - Zuko Zutara/ Sukka/ Taang
1. One Step Closer

**This is the second story in the Promise Saga. If you haven't read my story A Promise to Keep I highly recommend you do so before this one.**

1 - One More Step

Sweat poured down Zuko's forehead as he fought to keep his footing. His opponent knew him well and had increased in skill since the last time they had fought. Flames shot from his feet but were quickly extinguished. His current enemy shot their own attack and he quickly deflected it. It was obvious the two were evenly matched, but both were determined to win. Their own stubbornness refusing to let them back down. They both went for their next move, hitting each other at the same time and knocking each other to the ground. Zuko didn't have the energy within him to get back up and continue. One glance to the left told him that his opponent was faring no better.

"I bet in a few more weeks I'll kick your butt ," Katara told him.

"I was going easy on you," Zuko weezed in protest. Katara only scoffed at him in reply. Zuko just smiled before continuing. "And Master Pacu didn't think you could learn."

Katara laughed before relying. "I sure showed him."

"You showed them all," he told her thinking about the day they arrived at the Northern Water Tribe.

As expected the tribe was quite wary of a fire navy ship showing up. So, to put their worries at ease Aang had flown over to talk to them on his own and explain a few things. While they were still reluctant to let anything fire nation into their boarders, they were excited to meet the avatar. So, they allowed him and his friends, including Zuko and Iroh to come into the city. The ship and the rest of the crew remained just outside their ice wall.

Everyone in the tribe was nervous around the avatar's fire bending companions. But, with Aang's reassurances Zuko and Iroh had been welcomed in to join in the festival the Chief was throwing to welcome the avatar. After time people even began to relax just slightly in their presence. Now, all that meant was that they weren't glaring with hands on the hilt of their weapons, but Zuko chose to see it as progress. The next day he had gone with Aang and Katara to their water bending class not being able to resist watching Katara's first real lesson. He was shocked and angered when master Pacu had informed them that he would not be teaching Katara because she was a girl. The comments he made about her had Zuko steaming in rage wanting so badly to wipe the smug grin off the man's face. But, he knew standing up for her in this case would only make it worse. His help wasn't needed though. Katara had proven her right to learn all on her own, maybe even paving the way for other women of the tribe. She had stared the master directly in the eye and challenged him to fight her, knowing she couldn't win. She didn't win, but she did impress him enough to give her a chance. She didn't just keep up with the boys. Katara quickly surpassed them, proving she belonged right there with them. He had been so proud watching her over those few months. Now, you never would have known that there was a large gape in her study. She had learned quicker then anyone Zuko had ever seen, and that included his protégé of a sister. He entertained himself for a moment imagining what it would look like if those two ever came head to head. But, quickly dismissed the thought, not wanted Katara anywhere near that psycho.

Katara was the first one to move from the floor. She slowly stood up while stretching out all of her abused muscles. "I'm telling you, Zuko. Give it a few weeks and I'll win," she told him sliding up so her face was just above his.

He smiled up at her, "In your dreams," he replied knowing it was probably true. She smiled back at him before slowly getting to her feet and offering a hand down to him. He accepted her help up and walked with her to the exit of the arena snagging his shirt off the floor as he went.

"I'll see you at lunch," she told him as they parted giving him a stern look. He rolled his eyes as he watched her go. He had a tendency to loose himself in his work and skip meals. Since they had joined him, both Katara and Aang had come to either bring him food or drag him from his work.

When he thought about how nervous he was when he first met Aang, he laughs at himself now. He now understands why Katara had insisted he had nothing to worry about. Aang was truly unique. He never holds grudges and like Katara sees the good in everyone. He is on his way to being the most powerful person in the world, if he's not already but he's also extremely immature. Not that it's unusual for a boy his age to only worry about flying or riding giant fish, but if he was going to be able to do what the world needed him to, he has to grow up fast.

Zuko had gotten a glimpse of the young Avatar he knew Aang could be at the North Pole. After being there for a few month, an armada led by Admiral Zhao had shown up. Aang, connected with the ocean spirit had destroyed all the Fire Navy ships besides his own, saving the whole tribe. The water tribesmen first had blamed Zuko and his men for the attack, claiming they had brought them there. In a way, they were right. The Fire Lord had recently discovered Zuko's betrayal and sent Zhao to kill him and his followers. Zhao had brought it upon himself to attempt to destroy the water tribe as well. But, after the help that his crew and himself had given the tribe had begun to warm up to them. His ship had been allowed into the city and his wounded men had been treated in their healing ward beside their own warriors. The remainder of his crew, with some suprise help from a few of the warriors had searched the waters for survivors. Many of the soldiers they had saved were stunned that there was someone trying to challenge the Fire Lord. They were angry at the war just as much as they were and after very little time asked to join them. There was still those who ignorantly supported the Fire Lord. It took Zuko some time to decide what to do with these men now in his brig. After a great deal of time and discussion with his uncle and Aang, he let them and Jee Lee go back to the fire nation in eir smaller river boat. Jee Lee had been a member of their crew who had turned and betrayed them by revealing information to the Fire Lord. Letting him go was especially difficult for Zuko because Jee Lee had attacked Katara and attempted to kidnap her. When the boat had begun to take off he had almost pulled him back.

In the end they had been lucky though. Through the whole fight their crew had sustained no critical injuries and they hadn't lost anyone. Well, no soldier Zuko thought glancing at Sokka staring off at the fading moon. Despite how much he and Sokka may disagree with each other, he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He had fallen fast in love with the Northern Water Tribes young princess. And for some reason completely unknown to Zuko the princess had loved him back. Nothing was going to come of it though. She had an obligation to marry another. Unfair, yes but not unusual for royalty. Zhao had attempted to destroy the Water tribes directly from the source, the moon spirit. He had actually succeeded in killing it for awhile and things were turning bad. But, Yue had sacrificed herself and given her life for the moon spirit. It was only because of her sacrifice that they had been able to save the tribe. But, Zuko knew that her death had hit Sokka hard. So he had attempted to smooth things over between them, for Katara's sake. Unfortunately, Sokka wanted none of it. After Yue's death Sokka's distrust of Zuko became hatred. He seemed to need a scapegoat to blame it all on and Zuko was the perfect person.

Zuko torn his eyes away from the grieving boy and walked up to Hachiro at the helm. After his show of courage and loyalty, Zuko had promoted the young man to helmsman. He had begun to notice too, a close friendship brewing between him and Katara. "How much time do you think before we reach the earth kingdom main land?" Zuko asked.

"About two more weeks Prince Zuko," he replied.

"I concur," Zuko said. "Keep us at full speed. The sooner we reach Omashu and Aang starts learning earth bending from his old friend Bumi the better. We'll be one step closer to ending this war."

 **Alright, let me know what you guys think of this new story. As always thanks for any and all feedback.**


	2. Suprise Jealousy

2 - Suprise Jealousy

At dinner that night everyone, besides himself was talking excitedly about having music night that night. After the battle at the North Pole, the increase in their crew and the success of gaining an ally out of the tribe Iroh had insisted they needed to celebrate. Everybody loved the idea and now they were having music night. Zuko had planned on hiding out in his quarters tonight, as he did every music night. But, Katara had asked him if he was coming to this one, being her first one. She was so excited and he couldn't ruin it by telling her no. So, he was going to music night, yay.

Iroh was currently telling everyone about the dress he had bought for Katara as a surprise in the North Pole for just this night. Aang and Katara were both intrested, asking him questions about it and telling him how thoughtful that had been. Sokka and Zuko both were staying out of the conversation, happily watching Katara's delight. Sokka then anounced to them that he would not be joining in. To which, Katara protested. But, after he had informed her that after a certain loss, he in no way felt like celebrating, she relented. Zuko almost used Sokka not going as an excuse to weasel out too, but thought better of it.

It wasn't long before dinner was over and everyone separated to get ready for that night. Zuko sulked to his room knowing there was no way he was getting out of this. As a way to stall, he dressed in his formal uniform very slowly. When he knew he couldn't stall it any more, he made his way up to the top deck where he knew everything would be set up. Music night had already started a long time before he arrived. He quickly made his way into a quiet dark corner hoping to remain unseen and started wondering how soon he could leave without upsetting Katara. Katara had other ideas however and spotted him the minute he arrived. She came half running, half skipping over to him. He smiled when he spotted her. His uncle sure did do a good job on her dress and he obviously had a hand in the design. Because, while it was very obviously water tribe style, the color was the most brilliant red Zuko had ever seen. There were black pearls and tan shells that were almost the shade of gold inlaid along the waist and line of the skirt. Matching jewelry, including a small tiara had also been included aparently. She was beautiful.

"Zuko," she exclaimed when she reached him. "You came." She threw her arms around him and jumped. He automatically caught her without a thought.

"Of course I did," he replied. "You would have hunted me down if I didn't."

She giggled a little at his response. "Come dance with me," she asked bouncing up and down in his arm. His eyes went wide and he immediately started shaking his head no, placing her back down on her feet. "Oh, come on Zuko. Come have a little fun. You can't stand here in a dark corner all night." He didn't respond, but his face clearly said "watch me." Katara's smile immediately crumpled and at seeing it, his resolve started to waver. His shoulders fell in defeat and his mouth opened to tell her he would dance when he was intrupted.

"Clearly nephew you still have a lot to learn," Iroh told him sliding up. "When a beautiful young woman asked you to dance, you dance." He turned his attention to Katara and with a charming smile and bow that he could only have learned from his time in the palace asked her if she would care to dance with him. She instantly perked up and responded with a giggle and a bow of her own. Zuko smiled as he watched them head off together. This was the perfect outcome he thought. Katara's happily dancing with his uncle, and he doesn't have to. He watches for awhile as Iroh playfully twirls his young partner around. His uncle has always effortlessly charmed any lady he came across. Normally he found it disgusting. In this case, he was enjoying watching Katara so happy.

They weren't the only ones dancing. Zuko let his eyes wander to the large group surrounding the young Avatar. Apparently Aang was teaching a bunch of his crew 100 year old fire dances long forgotten. He watch the group for awhile. His crew were really enjoying learning about their past culture before the war. They had all grown up in a time when everything was fighting, war and dieing for country. It was a nice thing to learn that wasn't really want your culture had always about. He got so caught up in watching them that he lost track of time and was startled when Iroh joined them. He looked around confused. If Iroh had stopped dancing with Katara, then why wasn't she over here pestering him to dance.

His answer soon became clear when his eyes found her again. She was still in the middle of the dance floor. This time with a new partner. There was Hachiro dancing way too close with Katara. Zuko felt a jolt to his system that he didn't understand upon seeing this. Although Zuko already knew that Katara and Hachiro had become friends quite awhile ago, this dancing looked much different than the dancing she had done with his uncle. He watched Hachiro suddenly dipped Katara as she giggled in delight and felt his teeth clench and his fists begin to smoke. The more he watched the more angry he became until he had a name for this strange new feeling. But, he had no reason to be jealous. Katara was free to dance with whomever she wanted. He didn't have sole claim on her friendship. But, when Hachiro bent down to whisper in Katara's ear, Zuko snapped.

He shoved his way through the dancing crowd toward Katara and the object of his anger. He was shaking with suppressed anger by the time he arrived, but he fought it down enough to give Katara a somewhat friendly look. "Can I cut in?" he demanded already pulling Katara out of Hachiro's arms and into his own.

Hachiro was stunned by Zuko's obvious hostility toward him. But, recovered quickly. "Oh course, Prince Zuko," he said while bowing respectfully. His face warmed back up as he turned to Katara. "Thank you for granting me the privaledge of your beautiful company for a little while." She beamed back at him and nodded before Zuko roughly twirled her in the opposite direction.

After a few twirls Katara stopped Zuko with a smack to his shoulder. "What was that all about Zuko?"

"I'm sorry," he replied back. "I didn't realize you now preferred Hachiro's company."

"That is not what I said," she said while glaring at Zuko. "What is up with you? I thought you didn't even want to dance anyway."

"Well, I changed my mind," he told her.

"That's okay," she said exasperated. "But, you don't have to come and shove my current partner out of the way. He would have stepped aside and I really wanted to dance with YOU tonight."

"I'm sorry Katara. I really don't know what came over me," he told her.

"It's alright," she told him. "Besides, it got you on the dance floor like I wanted to begin with." She grinned at him before throwing her arms around his neck placing the two of them much closer, he noticed with a great deal of satisfaction, then she and Hachiro had been.

He smiled back at her before putting his own hands around her waist and pulling her even closer. "I suppose it did."


	3. Meditation Fail

3- Meditation Fail

Despite Zuko's previous determination to do nothing but hug a dark corner and leave the moment he could, he found himself directly in the middle of the festivities alongside Katara. Both of them stuck to each other's side for the rest of the night and Zuko found himself enjoying music night for the first time. They were some of the last to leave the deck and Katara had been so tired from dancing that Zuko had to just about carry her to her room.

"I had fun tonight," she mumbled in his shoulder when they made it to her room.

"I'm glad. I did to," he said surprised.

"I told you so," she lectured his shoulder before lifting her head up and starting to pull herself up toward his cheek. But, she gave up half way there and slumped back against his chest before turning her head and kissing his shoulder instead. "Good night Zuko," she said sleepily climbing into her bed.

"Good night," Zuko said while chuckling at how cute she was at that moment.

Zuko was still in his good mood when he woke the next morning. And he still had a slight smile on his face when he sat down to start his morning meditation. His good mood quickly changed to frustration however. Meditation is extremely important for fire bending. Fire can easily get out of control, so the person wielding it has to be in full control of their emotions. The biggest way to do that is meditation. It is the first thing every fire bender learns and every single one knows how important it is. Zuko hasn't had trouble meditating since he was five years old. That's why he was so frustrated now.

No matter how hard he concentrated he couldn't get his mind to clear and focus on training. Every time he thought he was finally focused, he would get a flash of swirling red skirt or Katara's laughing face as he dipped her and he was brought right back to last night. And while they were absolutely pleasant thoughts, he did not like being distracted while trying to train. After unsuccessfully trying to concentrated for over an hour, Zuko angrily huffed out a puff of fire before giving up.

He felt as though his whole body was somehow messed up. He knew how important meditation was, but had never known what it was like to go without.

No longer in a good mood, Zuko makes his way to the bridge to check on their progress. When he arrived, he almost backed out. The only other person in the room was Hachiro. Zuko knew he had completely overreacted last night to Hachiro dancing with Katara and he felt awkward seeing him again.

No, Zuko finally decided. This was his ship and he would go where he pleased. So he lifted his head, pushed his chest out just a little and stomped straight to the map in the middle of the room.

He clearly startled the young helmsman with his armored boots suddenly stomping on the metal floor. Good, thought Zuko giving his sole attention to the map in front of his face. "Prince Zuko," Hachiro greeted stiffly yet respectfully while deeply bowing. Zuko merely noded slightly in his direction still pretending to be fully immersed in the map.

After a long awkward pause Zuko turned to address Hachiro who had been standing at attention the whole time. "How far from the earth kingdom are we?" he asked stiffly.

"Only one week, we've been keeping good time, sir" Hachiro replied.

"And how are we on supplies?" Zuko continued.

"The Southern Water tribe was very generous,sir. We are well stocked and will not have to stop for several weeks." Hachiro replied.

"And the wounded soldiers from the battle. What progress is there on that end?" This had absolutely nothing to do with Hachiro's responsibilities. But, Zuko was determined to win this new type of battle.

"They're all faring very well. I understand Katara has even been down in the infirmary to help our doctor care for them all. With her help their recovery has sped up tremendously," he responded before seeming to realize how bad of an idea it was to bring up Katara at that moment. But Hachiro cut Zuko off when he saw his eyes narrow and his mouth open to begin to yell at him. "I'm sorry Prince Zuko." That stopped Zuko short and he looked back at Hachiro in stunned confusion. "I never should have tried anything. I should have realized that you…I mean I would never want to be in a competition with you. You don't have to worry about me, sir, I'll back off. I didn't realize. I should have, I'm sorry."

Zuko was extremely confused until Hachiro's meaning dawned on him. Zuko's eyes widened and he inhaled in surprise. Hachiro cared for Katara, Hachiro believed he cared for Katara, in that way. Did Katara care for Hachiro? So many questions swirled in his head before he realized Hachiro was waiting for a response. He had to set him straight. He was a good guy and what if Katara really liked him.

But, for some reason it just didn't sit right with Zuko. So, he decided to let him continue on believing what he will. "It's alright Hachiro, I've always known I've been able to trust you. I don't want any bad blood between us." He moved forward while offering his hand and Hachiro jumped forward to shake it with a smile.

"Thank you, Prince Zuko," he said clearly relieved. "And I'm sorry about the map."

"What?" Zuko asked confused glancing back at the forgotten map only to groan in annoyance. There in the middle of the map where he had previously been resting his hand was a palm size burn mark. Zuko's previous irritation grew again. It was his inability to meditate this morning that was responsible for that. His bending had gotten out of control in his anger. "No, that's my fault," Zuko told him while gathering up the ruined map and setting it ablaze. " I'll head down to the scroll archives to get a replacement. I'll be right back."

The scroll archives were not very far from the bridge so it didn't take Zuko very long to get there. Most of the scrolls were maps so it took no time to pick out what he needed. But, just as he was about to leave something caught his eye. He knew every scroll in this room, he had chosen them all himself. So, how was it possible for him to not recognize one. It was the seal that caught his eye. Standing right out from the sea of red and black, it was the bright purple color that first caught his eye. He pulled the scroll out to get a better look, still confused as to how it could have found it's way in here. Maybe it had been one of the many of Iroh's treasures he had found at markets only to forget. But, the symbol was something Zuko had never seen before and couldn't identify what nation it was from. Purple while beautiful, didn't belong to any nation. The symbol, three wavy lines was also nothing he recognized. Intent on learning more he tucked the scroll into his belt before picking up the map he had come for and heading back to the bridge.

 **I'm back! Sorry again. I promise though, even if I'm the only one still interested in this story it will eventually get finished. If anyone else is still interested let me know what you think.**


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